The head of Wales’ public spending watchdog wrote to the Welsh authorities two years in the past saying ministers have been making “unhelpful” feedback about north Wales’ well being board.

The auditor basic raised issues about phrases from earlier well being minister Vaughan Gething.

He implied he “received direct advice” from Audit Wales about Betsi Cadwaladr leaving particular measures in 2020.

Plaid Cymru has known as on the Welsh authorities to set the file straight.

But Eluned Morgan, the present well being minister, stated she would give attention to seeing “improvements happening on the ground in Betsi for the future”.

The troubled Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board returned to particular measures in February after a string of failings, together with on vascular and emergency companies.

A damning report had closely criticised the best way it was run on the high.

The board had been taken out of particular measures in 2020, in a transfer that was closely criticised by opposition politicians on the time.

It is the very best stage of presidency oversight Welsh ministers can impose when making an attempt to repair issues within the NHS.

In the Senedd the day after Betsi Cadwaladr returned to particular measures, First Minister Mark Drakeford dismissed Plaid Cymru’s accusation that the board was taken out of particular measures with “an election looming”.

Mr Drakeford stated: “The decision, and it is a decision of ministers, to take the board out of special measures was because we were advised that that is what we should do by the auditor general, by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and by Welsh government officials whose job it is to provide ministers with the advice.”

Auditor General Adrian Crompton informed Plaid Cymru by letter that his organisation had not given such recommendation.

Replying to a request for clarification from Plaid Cymru chief Adam Price, Mr Crompton stated: “In response to your specific question on whether there was advice from me or my staff to the minister to de-escalate the health board from special measures at that time, I can be very clear, there was not.”

He defined that Audit Wales shared findings and intelligence from its work by way of the method that informs Welsh authorities officers, who advise ministers.

However, he did say that in discussions Audit Wales workers did recognise that “after five years the special measures ‘label’ itself was increasingly becoming a hindrance to improvement at the health board given its negative effect on crucial areas such as external recruitment, internal engagement, and staff morale”.

In an interview with BBC Wales, Mr Drakeford stated the method on particular measures was a “complicated system for those who are not used to it”.

“It begins with the auditor general, the civil service and Health Inspectorate Wales coming together to discuss whether or not an organisation needs to have any extra intervention,” he stated.

“Separately, civil servants then advise ministers and the third step in this chain is ministers decide.”

Speaking within the Senedd following the choice to take away Betsi Cadwaladr from particular measures in November 2020, Vaughan Gething, the well being minister on the time, stated: “They’ve considered the extra information that has been provided, and that group of people – the chief executive of NHS Wales, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and Audit Wales – have given clear advice that Betsi Cadwaladr should move out of special measures, and that is the basis for my decision.”

In a separate letter to Plaid Cymru, the auditor basic stated he wrote to the Welsh authorities on the time “to indicate that it was unhelpful for the minister to imply that he had received direct advice from me or my staff on the escalation status of the health board”.

Asked on the BBC’s Politics Wales programme, if the ministers wanted to right the Senedd’s file, Health Minister Eluned Morgan stated: “The first minister has clarified the position just to make sure everyone understands what is a complex process.

“The system implies that the recommendation that’s given by the civil service is undertaken partly because of the discussions which can be undertaken by Health Inspectorate Wales and the auditor basic.

“The auditor general, and I quote from their words, ‘Audit Wales staff recognised that after five years of special measures the label itself was increasingly becoming a hindrance to improvement’.

“I believe that what we have to do is simply make certain we give attention to the longer term. That’s what I’m eager about.

“I’m not interested in semantics of two years ago.

“I need to see the enhancements occurring on the bottom in Betsi for the longer term – that is what the general public care about.”

Plaid Cymru’s health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “They did mislead the Senedd.

“We’re asking government for transparency, we’re asking government to put their hands up and say, ‘we got this one wrong’.

“Because on the coronary heart of this can be a struggling, is a troubling, a failed well being board and we have to know why authorities took varied choices at varied time limits to attempt to resolve the problems.

“They’ve failed and here we have government ducking responsibility, saying it’s semantics.

“They would possibly suppose it is semantics, the auditor basic would not.”

Welsh Conservative MS for Clwyd West Darren Millar told Politics Wales: “We have to take ministers, frankly, out of the image with regards to intervening in our well being companies.

“We’ve got to get the politics out of this situation so that people can get the services that they deserve.

“We’ve bought a well being board in north Wales which is failing and has been failing now for a really very long time.”